Vol 23 No 1 2009
Published: Thu 1st January
ISSN 1359-4575

This Journal is available to purchase

Journal Articles:
Editorial
Unexpected learning (p2)
Music therapy with children and adolescents in mainstream schools: a systematic review (p3 - p18)
view abstract
This article identifies existing research and clinical activity utilising music therapy with mainstream children, as well as a potential need for music therapy with this client group. A systematic review was undertaken of music therapy literature relating to work with children in mainstream schools: 60 papers were identified, 12 of which were outcome studies. Statistical and government data provide a background to the current status and needs of children in the UK. The emotional and social wellbeing needs of children have been identified as a priority to be addressed by the UK government. However, further research, service-planning and reorganisation is required. There is evidence that music therapy is used with children in mainstream schools both in the UK and abroad. Current literature suggests that music therapy is an effective intervention. The review demonstrates that further research is required if music therapy is to be considered an effective intervention to address the needs of mainstream schoolchildren. 
Beyond the therapy room: women's experiences of 'going public' with song creations (p19 - p26)
view abstract
This paper describes the experiences of five women relating to the public performance of their work created in music therapy. Performance within this project included the recording of their work and a subsequent live performance at the launch of a CD created within the project. Programme participants were interviewed and asked to describe their experiences of the song writing process, including painful memories. The women reported many different feelings during the recording and performance process. Overall, all participants found this process to be worthwhile. Case vignettes present the experiences of the women involved in the programme. The paper concludes with considerations for music therapy practitioners.
Adding humour to the music therapist's tool-kit: reflections on its role in child psychiatry (p27 - p34)
view abstract
In this article we reflect on the use of humour in music therapy on a children's psychiatric unit. We review the current literature and, by providing detailed case vignettes, identify four characteristics of humour in music therapy in this context as well as listing the main functions of humour here. We find that humour is a highly subjective experience and that due consideration of the intention behind any use of humour by the music therapist is crucial. Awareness and attunement to one's client are considered vital when dealing with such a powerful multi-faceted phenomenon.
What has Schopenhauer's theory of music to contribute to an understanding if improvisional music therapy? (p35 - p43)
view abstract
Schopenhauer has been described as the 'musician's philosopher' for the detailed attention he pays to music, assigning the medium a 'pride of place in the arts' (Budd 1985: 76). Whilst his theory has received ample criticism (Han 1997) on the grounds of conceptual inconsistencies, what is of significance for music therapy is the way in which Schopenhauer cites music as the inner essence of man. Unlike the other arts which form representations of the world, music is not a representation; music therefore has the capacity to say the unsayable, revealing aspects of the world that verbal language is unable to reveal (Bowie 2003). It is of further significance that Schopenhauer has frequently been cited as a precursor to Freud, in particular upon comparing Schopenhauer's theory of man's inner essence or Will with Freud's theory of the unconscious. This article explores the relevance of these theoretical links to the work of some pioneering theories of the modern western improvisational music therapy practices developed in the 1970s by Paul Nordoff, Clive Robbins and Mary Priestley. Schopenhauer's theory of music is shown not only to have had broad influence as a philosophy of music (Goehr 1966), but also to have contributed inadvertently to conceptual thinking in music therapy.
Response
A response to Nigel Hartley's article "The arts in health and social care - is music therapy fit for purpose?" ( p44 - p45)
Book Reviews
Music for children and young people with complex needs, Adam Ockelford (p46)
The theory and practice of vocal psychotherapy: songs of the self , Diane Austin (p47)
Back to Journals